Baking and cooking my way through the cold Alaska winters keeps me from getting cabin fever. With the help of my husband and our four dogs, we manage to maintain our sanity through adventures in our kitchen and our hometown, Fairbanks.

Monday, June 4, 2012

Light Banana Cream Pie and a secret

I have a secret, I'm a bit paranoid. O.K. if you know me that isn't much of a secret. I'm afraid of the dark, the closet and things grabbing my feet from under the bed and burglars. But I have a plan for burglars and, thanks to my husband, I got to practice that plan.

You need to understand a few things first. My bedroom is upstairs. Go up the stairs and turn to the right, you go into the family room, turn to the left and you go through my bedroom door. My bedroom is attached to the bathroom and my bathroom is attached to the family room. So it is one big circle.

Over the long weekend, my husband went camping with our son, niece and nephew and a bunch of friends. I stayed home to plant my garden and flowers. Dave called on Saturday to say he was staying an extra day and not to expect him until Monday afternoon. That was fine with me, one more day to myself and cereal for dinner (my favorite). Sunday night, I was fast asleep in my bed. At 1:30 a.m. I awoke with a start. And then I heard it, a sound. There was no doubt someone was in my house. I listened very carefully, and sure enough there was noise from downstairs. I quickly and very quietly got out of bed. I made the bed (so burglars didn't know anyone was home), pulled on a pair of sweat pants and a sweatshirt over my nightgown and went through the bathroom to the family room (no crossing in front of the stairs to give away my location) so I could go onto the top deck and jump off the roof to run across the street to the safety of the neighbors. At the sliding door to the deck, I turned and saw a downstairs light go on, I was sweating bullets, my heart was beating in my ears and I was hoping I wouldn't break anything on my way to the ground from the second story (could I drag myself across the street to the neighbor's house?). Just as I unlocked to the door, I hear another sound, dogs walking around on the hardwood floor. What kind of burglar brings a dog? I tentatively called out "Dave."
"It's me, I came home early, the river rose and washed us out." he casually called up the steps.
"It's one thirty in the morning, couldn't you have called ahead to let me know?" I practically screeched.
"Oh, I didn't want to wake you."
Well it was a good thing I hadn't taken my gun out and put it on my dresser like I usually do when he is in moose camp because I might have shot him right then and there.
So after a good cry, a dry t-shirt and some calming down with an extra piece of banana cream pie, all was right with the world again. We headed upstairs about 3:00 for bed.
Dave walked into the bedroom. "Why is the bed made, haven't you been to bed yet?"
"Yes, I was asleep when you got home, I made the bed. It is part of my plan, so the burglars don't know I'm home and won't come looking for me," I replied smugly.
"When did we have burglars?" he asked as he crawled between the covers.
Again, it is a good thing my gun was put away...

Light Banana Cream Pieadapted from Ellie Krieger The Food We Crave

Ingredients

Cooking spray

14 graham cracker squares (7 full sheets)

1 cup Fiber One Original cereal

3 tablespoons butter, melted

1 tablespoon water

1 1/2 teaspoons unflavored gelatin

3 tablespoons boiling water

1/3 cup, plus 1/2 teaspoon sugar

3 tablespoons all-purpose flour

2 egg yolks

1 1/2 cups 1 percent lowfat milk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 cups sliced banana (3 medium bananas)

1/4 cup whipping cream

1/2 teaspoon sugar

1 banana for topping
fresh mint leaves, if desired

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
Spray a 9-inch pie plate with cooking spray. In a food processor,
process graham crackers and Fiber One cereal until finely ground. Add butter and 1 tablespoon
of water, and process until the crumb clumps together. Press crumb
mixture into bottom of pie plate and about 1/2-inch up the sides. Bake
in the oven for 10 minutes, then let cool.
In the meantime, make the filling. Put the gelatin in a small bowl;
add 3 tablespoons of boiling water and stir until gelatin is dissolved.
In a medium saucepan, whisk together 1/3 cup of sugar and the flour. In
a medium bowl lightly beat the milk and eggs together. Add the egg and
milk mixture to the saucepan and whisk so the flour and sugar dissolve.
Cook over a medium heat, stirring constantly, for 10 minutes, until
mixture comes to a boil and has thickened. Stir in the vanilla extract
and gelatin. Set aside to cool slightly.
Arrange the sliced bananas on the graham cracker crust and pour the
pudding on top. Place in the refrigerator until the pudding has set,
about 3 hours.
Whip the cream with an electric beater. When it is about halfway
done, add 1/2 teaspoon of sugar, then continue whipping until fully
whipped. Top each piece of pie with a spoonful of whipped cream, slices of banana and fresh mint, if desired.

Tips:
I buy my gelatin in a box with individual packets of gelatin. This does not use a full packet. If you put the full packet in, the filling gets a rubbery texture (not delicious, I speak from experience). Measure the gelatin.

I love adding Fiber One cereal to graham cracker crusts. It adds a little more crumb mixture so it is easier to work with, and it adds extra fiber. You need to adjust the amount of butter and water to make it a workable crumb. I feel like I'm doing my body a favor by eating a piece of pie!